Calendar

CU-Boulder to Test Campus Text-Messaging System on April 13

The University of Colorado at Boulder will test the Campus Alerts text-messaging system on April 13 at noon.

The Campus Alerts system had 15,296 subscribers as of April 9 including students, faculty and staff members. About 40 percent of the campus community is currently enrolled.

“Over 15,000 members of our community have taken the time to sign up for the Campus Alerts system so that they can receive an emergency text. This is a solid base that has grown each year, but we would like to see even higher levels of participation,” said Interim Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano.

Students, faculty and staff can sign up to receive an alert by a text message, e-mail, or both. Campus community members with a colorado.edu, cu.edu, or cufund.org e-mail address can sign up for the system at www.colorado.edu/alerts.

Volunteers with laptops will be available in the University Memorial Center on April 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to help students, faculty and staff sign up for the system.

After they receive the test message, users are encouraged to add CU Alert to their phone contacts so that in the case of an emergency the alert will display as received from the university.

Users who have changed phone numbers or switched carriers since signing up should log in to the system to update their contact information. They can log in through CUConnect or by going to www.colorado.edu/alerts. Answers to frequently asked questions and support information also is available on the site.

Any user who expected to receive an alert and didn’t, or who needs help signing up for the system, should call the IT Service Center at 303-735-HELP or e-mail [email protected]

The Campus Alerts system was launched in the fall of 2007 following a task force recommendation to add a text-messaging alert system to CU-Boulder’s other emergency communication tools. The system allows the CU-Boulder administration to send messages of 132 characters or less to cell phones in the database, and messages are received within several minutes of the transmission. Messages can be updated and used to direct people to appropriate Web sites and TV and radio stations for information. Alerts also can be sent by e-mail.

In an emergency, users would be directed to the CU Web site at www.colorado.edu, to the CUConnect portal at cuconnect.colorado.edu and to the campus Emergency Information Line at 303-492-INFO or 303-735-INFO for additional information.

For additional information go to www.colorado.edu/alerts or www.colorado.edu/safety.